New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are in trouble, no denying that. The Boston Red Sox have flown past them this winter, and the Yankees' inability to lure free-agent ace Cliff Lee with a colossal seven-year contract offer leave them hurting badly for starting pitching.

Zack Greinke, the second-best available pitcher and current ace of the Kansas City Royals, seems to be on their radar screen.

Assuming that the Royals do not lessen their sky-high price tag for Greinke, though, the Yankees are hardly in the right position to make a deal.

As Christmas approaches, fans of the New York Yankees have been left with nothing but coal in their stockings.  This isn't by any means meant to be a slight on recently acquired catcher Russell Martin whose signing makes for a decent "stocking stuffer."  It is the big prize though that has so far eluded the Yankees.

The New York Yankees struck out on Cliff Lee and now their attention turns to not losing one of their own. Andy Pettitte is currently exploring his options as to whether he will return or not. The southpaw put together one of his best seasons last year. 

Brian Cashman struck out in free agency this winter, something he's rarely done in his brilliant career as the New York Yankees general manager.

Cashman failed to acquire the Yankees' primary offseason target, Cliff Lee, and in doing so, the Yankees were beaten to Carl Crawford by their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Rosenthal has recently suggested that the New York Yankees take a run at free agent reliever Rafael Soriano.

After losing out on Cliff Lee, the Yankees have a lot of unused money laying around, and adding Soriano, along with Mariano Rivera would give them the best eighth-ninth inning punch.

What this essentially does for the Yankees is make the games shorter.

New Year's resolutions for all 30 MLB teams are difficult to craft.

With the big time free agents starting to find homes and the trade market heating up, next years teams are starting to take shape.

Technically, every team's 2011 New Year's resolution is to win the World Series in October.

But if you play in Pittsburgh or Kansas City, that probably doesn't seem too likely.

Now for the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and a few other club it's too easy to say their resolution is to win the title. So we'll try to add a little more suspense to it than that.

The Yankees need pitching help. We all know this.

The Yankees just got burned in the Cliff Lee negotiations, as he turned down the Yankees' offer and went back to the Phillies.

With the Yankees rotation right now being CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and a struggling A.J. Burnett, they have two huge holes in it.

Andy Pettitte is tossed between retiring and coming back for 2011. A lot of people in baseball have a feeling Pettitte may in fact call it a career this winter.

In short, no.

Cliff Lee is a stud. A rock solid ace who makes batters look foolish and guarantees his team that they have a chance to win every single time out. Missing out on a guy like that is never good.

Rejection never feels good.

We've all experienced it before, whether it be at the workplace, playground or singles bar around the corner. Everyone gets their ego bruised from time to time...even the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees have an abundant amount of money to spend after losing out on signing Cliff Lee, who went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

All possible options will be tried, as cash is never short in New York and especially when the team is in need. Nobody puts Baby in the corner; not the Phillies, not Lee and certainly not a lack of free agents.